{"id":442663,"date":"2026-09-21T05:54:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T05:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/442663\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T05:54:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T05:54:09","slug":"west-side-homeowner-rebuilds-after-severe-august-storm-says-city-response-fell-short","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/442663\/","title":{"rendered":"West Side homeowner rebuilds after severe August storm, says city response fell short"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Nearly a month after a severe storm tore through her West Side neighborhood, Maria Salazar is still rebuilding<\/a> and still frustrated with the city\u2019s response.<\/p>\n

Trees and debris slammed into Salazar\u2019s yard off Merida Street near South Zarzamora Street after the Aug. 28 storm. CPS Energy officials said her neighborhood was among the hardest hit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The storm damage added up fast for Salazar.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to take out of our 401(K) because we don\u2019t have $10,000 just sitting in our account, right? I\u2019m going to tell you, it\u2019s been more than $10,000,\u201d Salazar said.<\/p>\n

Salazar said the city did help pick up brush at no cost, but a large tree trunk was left on the curb \u2014 and her calls for additional help went unanswered.<\/p>\n

She said a city representative\u2019s response made things worse.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo days after that, the information changed. And I said, but that\u2019s not fair … I had to take out from my 401(K),\u201d Salazar said. \u201dAnd you know what the city told me? Life\u2019s not fair. That\u2019s what he told me. That\u2019s what I got from a gentleman from the City of San Antonio.\u201d <\/p>\n

When asked about the city\u2019s response, Salazar said she was angry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was upset because why give me that comment? I\u2019m here, like, it\u2019s kind of kicking me while I\u2019m down,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In one of the city\u2019s press conferences after the storm on Aug. 30, officials said they received thousands of calls that weekend and worked around the clock to clear debris while checking on the residents most impacted.<\/p>\n

Despite the frustration, Salazar said her neighbors and family came through when she needed it most.<\/p>\n

\u201cLuckily the community came together,\u201d Salazar said. \u201cPeople that we didn\u2019t even know, you know, \u2018Hey, are y\u2019all OK? Yes, we\u2019re good, thank you,\u2019 but it was just the community that we had to look out for each other.\u201d <\/p>\n

Residents who need financial assistance can apply for a low-interest federal disaster loan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Applicants may apply online and download applications at sba.gov\/disaster. Applicants may also call SBA\u2019s Customer Service Center at 800-659-2955 or email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov for additional information.<\/p>\n

Read also: <\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Nearly a month after a severe storm tore through her West Side neighborhood, Maria Salazar…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442664,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82,84,83,33690,51314,2098],"class_list":["post-442663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-storm-damage","tag-we-follow-through","tag-west-side"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}